It is known in the field of crop harvesting equipment to employ harvesting headers to cut standing crops for various purposes, such as feeding a combine harvester or swathing crop material. Such harvesting headers commonly comprise a forwardly disposed cutter bar assembly for cutting the crop material, a draper deck or auger assembly rearward of the cutter bar assembly for transporting the cut crop material to a desired location (e.g. the intake for a combine harvester), and a generally cylindrical reel assembly parallel to the length of the cutter bar assembly for controlling the movement of cut crop against the cutter bar assembly and onto the draper deck assembly or into an auger assembly. The reel comprises a central rotatable shaft and a plurality of bats at a set distance from the central shaft, spaced apart from each other, each of the bats containing fingers or other members for engaging and guiding the crop material. The fingers may be composed of any suitable material given the particular crop and application, such as steel or molded plastic. In operation, the implement is driven into the standing crop, with the cutter bar assembly and reel assembly at the leading edge of the implement. After the cutter bar assembly cuts the crop material, the crop material falls and/or is moved rearwardly with the assistance of the reel assembly onto the generally horizontal draper deck assembly or horizontal auger assembly and then transported perpendicular to the direction of travel by the draper deck assembly or auger assembly and deposited either on the ground or at an intake for subsequent processing. Such an arrangement has many known benefits and has achieved wide acceptance and use.
However, a long-standing problem with conventional reel assemblies is that the fingers are commonly thin and provided with little structural support and accordingly are subject to significant wear and even breakage. It is costly and time-consuming to repair such damage in a conventional arrangement, particularly where fingers are welded or otherwise attached to the bat in a like manner.
There have been some attempts in the past to address this problem. For example, it is known in the art to releasably mount the fingers on the bat, to enable a less expensive and time-consuming repair solution. Fingers have been designed to bolt onto a bat, for example, and this has gained some popularity among implement users. U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,823 teaches a finger that attaches to a mounting collar, which collar is in turn bolted to the bat, and the collar can be unbolted and the finger repaired or replaced.
Alternative prior art solutions include the use of molded plastic fingers that can releasably engage a bat. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,155 teaches a bat formed using sheet metal, the bat provided with spaced apart holes for receiving the mounting ends of fingers. The fingers themselves are molded plastic and provided with a button at the base to mate with a hole in the bat.
While various solutions have been proposed, there still remains a desire in the technical field for a bat-finger arrangement that is simple, reliable and easy to repair. Also, the prior art solutions fail to address another noted problem in the field, namely the need for different finger spacings for different crops or applications. For example, prior art bats are provided with holes for receiving bolts or finger buttons, with the obvious result of set spacings. What is required, therefore, is a bat that provides for both simple finger repair or replacement and varied finger spacings.